Little Chants that wait for your child
20 call-and-response chants, free and in your browser. Buddy chants a line in her real voice over a music-box tune, and then she stops. That pause is the whole idea: a rhythmic, repeating, slowed-down pattern gives a child time to work out what is coming and to arrive on it.
These are chants, not songs. We say so on every page. Here is why we chose it.
Speech sounds
One sound family per chant. The repeated hook is the target, and it comes back every four bars so a child gets many practice repetitions inside one short piece.
Chant
Snake Says Sss
S sound (word start)
Hold a long, steady /s/ and then use it at the start of a word.
Chant
Rocket Goes Rrr
R sound (word start)
Growl a sustained /r/ and carry it into the start of a word.
Chant
La La Lion
L sound (word start)
Lift the tongue tip for a clear /l/ and repeat it in a singable pattern.
Chant
Cat and Goat
K and G sounds (back of the mouth)
Move the back of the tongue up for /k/ and /g/ instead of fronting them.
Chant
Fish, Fan and Van
F and V sounds (lip and teeth)
Rest the top teeth on the bottom lip for /f/, then turn the voice on for /v/.
Chant
Shoes and Cheese
SH and CH sounds
Round the lips for a long /ʃ/, then add the stop that makes it /tʃ/.
Chant
Ball, Pie and Moon
B, P and M sounds (both lips)
Close both lips and open them — the first sounds most children make.
Chant
Top, Dog and Nose
T, D and N sounds (tongue tip)
Tap the tongue tip behind the top teeth for /t/, /d/ and /n/.
Every day
Chants built to be played during the real routine — the words arrive at the moment the child is already living them.
Chant
Hello Buddy, Hello You
Greeting language
Take the second turn in a greeting — the smallest complete conversation there is.
Chant
Time to Clean Up
Daily routine · tidying
Use one repeated phrase across a whole real-life routine, so the words arrive with the activity.
Chant
Splish Splash Bath Time
Daily routine · bath
Attach words to a routine a child already knows by heart, with a splashy rhythm to move to.
Chant
Night Night, Buddy
Daily routine · bedtime
Wind down with a slow, quiet chant that still leaves a turn for the child.
Chant
Yum Yum, Time to Eat
Daily routine · mealtime
Request and comment at the table — the highest-value words a young child can own.
First ideas
Colours, counting, animals, weather and body parts, each inside a sentence frame that stays the same so the new word stands out.
Chant
Colors All Around
Early concept · colors
Name four colors inside a repeating frame, so the color word is the only thing that changes.
Chant
Count With Buddy
Early concept · counting
Say the number words one to five in a steady beat, with a picture for each.
Chant
Animals Say Hello
Early concept · animals
Animal sounds first, animal names second — the easiest ladder into naming there is.
Chant
What's the Weather?
Early concept · weather
Answer the same question four different ways — a question frame a child can carry anywhere.
Chant
Head to Toes
Early concept · body parts
Pair every word with a movement, so the body remembers what the mouth is saying.
Why chants, and why they are not songs
Buddy’s real voice
Every line is Buddy’s own recorded voice, the same one she uses in the app. We tested synthetic singing and it could not hold a tune or stay in character, so we did not ship a pretend singer. She chants, and the melody is played on an instrument.
A real gap, every time
Four beats of genuine silence after each line. In “Buddy and me” nothing fills it. Switch to “Just Buddy” and she models the line again instead, for a child who is still listening rather than joining.
Made to be played again
Repeat is on by default and the beat carries straight into the next pass. Slow it down with one tap and the tune slows with it — the bed is recorded again at the slower tempo rather than being pitched down.
Pictures that talk
Four picture words sit under every chant. Tap one at any moment and it says itself out loud, so a child who is not ready for a whole line still has something to press and something to copy.
The screen hears you
If you turn the microphone on, Buddy and the whole stage react to your child’s voice as they make it — not after, and not only when a word is recognised. The mic opens for the gap and closes straight after.
Never marked wrong
There is no score and no failure sound anywhere in this library. Buddy answers warmly to whatever she hears, and says nothing at all about a quiet turn.
Questions parents and SLPs ask
Are these actually songs?
No, and we will not call them that. They are rhythmic chants: Buddy speaks on a steady beat over an instrumental melody. We built them this way on purpose. Buddy’s voice is generated, and generated voices do not sing — the version we tested either flattened into ordinary speech or fell apart completely. A chant in her genuine voice is clinically stronger than a bad impression of singing in someone else’s.
How does rhythm help a child talk?
A steady beat makes what comes next predictable, and predictable is what a child needs in order to prepare a word before it is due. The pattern repeats, the tempo is slow, and the gap always lands in the same place — so after a pass or two a child knows exactly when their turn is coming and can get their mouth ready for it.
My child does not join in yet. Is that a problem?
Not at all, and it is the normal starting point. Leave it on “Just Buddy” so she models each line twice, and let it repeat. Listening, watching the pictures, and moving to the beat are all real participation. Many children start by joining on the very last word of a line before they take a whole turn.
Do I need the microphone?
No. Every chant plays start to finish with the microphone off, and the gap is still there. The microphone only adds the live reaction — Buddy bouncing to your child’s voice, and a warm word back afterwards. It opens during the gap and closes immediately.
Which chant should we start with?
Hello Buddy, Hello You is built to be the first one — it is short, the target word is one syllable, and the whole thing is a greeting a child already hears many times a day. After that, pick the sound your child is working on, or whichever routine is happening right now.
Are they free?
Yes. All 20 chants play in full, in any modern browser, with no account and nothing locked part-way through.
Getting along
Greetings, please and thank you, and whose turn it is — the language that gets a child what they want from other people.
Please and Thank You
Social language · politeness
Two words that get a child what they want, practised in the shape of a real exchange.
7 turns88 bpmRepeat & slowMy Turn, Your Turn
Social language · turn-taking
Name the turn out loud — the skill every other chant in this library quietly rests on.
7 turns92 bpmRepeat & slow